Iran's Hormuz Standoff Just Rewired Trump's Beijing Summit With Xi

BusinessEnergyIran's Hormuz Standoff Just Rewired Trump's Beijing Summit With XiByGüney Yıldız,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I focus on the nexus of AI adoption, energy, and geopolitics.Follow AuthorMay 11, 2026, 04:38pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands as they leave after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base on October 30, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesThe US-Iran ceasefire is unraveling forty-eight hours before Donald Trump's plane lifts off for Beijing, and the consequences are running straight through energy markets and into the agenda of his meeting with Xi Jinping. Trump said on Monday the truce was on "massive life support" after rejecting Tehran's response to his peace proposal as a "piece of garbage." Brent crude closed near $104 a barrel. The Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the war, remains largely sealed for the tenth straight week.Trump arrives in Beijing on Wednesday for talks scheduled Thursday and Friday, his first visit to China since 2017. The official agenda runs across Iran, Taiwan, AI, nuclear weapons, trade and a possible extension of the critical-minerals truce. What looked, until a few days ago, like a trade meeting with a security backdrop has turned into a crisis-management summit. The Iran file is no longer a regional issue. It now sits at the center of what gets negotiated in Beijing.The mechanics are straightforward. With Hormuz disrupted, global oil markets are losing roughly 100 million barrels a week, by Saudi Aramco's count. War-risk premiums on vessels approaching the strait are punitive. Insurance brokers are quoting Asian refiners o...